The green light from Turkey to approve the membership application Finland in the Born looks like it’s almost done. And this regardless of what the Turkish government decides with it Sweden, another country eager to end up under the Atlantic Alliance umbrella, but with which Ankara has had bitter diplomatic tensions in recent months. This is the scenario drawn by the Turkish media, where the white smoke for Helsinki would be just a step away.
Turkey’s decision
As Anadolu News Agency reports, Turkey is planning to do so approve membership Finland to NATO independent of Sweden ahead of Turkey’s parliamentary and presidential elections May 14th. Recall that on February 24, after the outbreak of war in Ukraine, Stockholm, along with its northern neighbor, applied to join the Western military alliance.
Meanwhile the Finnish President Sauli Niinisto will go to Turkey on an official visit in the next few hours. A meeting with the Turkish counterpart is scheduled for Friday in Istanbul Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussing Helsinki’s entry into the Atlantic Alliance.
Sweden’s question
Should the Finnish situation resolve itself again soon, the situation regarding the situation will be very different Sweden. In fact, Turkey has repeatedly stated that the Swedish government must take further action against supporters of Kurdish militants and members of the network that blames Ankara for the 2016 coup attempt. Ankara considers both groups to be terrorist organizations.
On the other hand, Stockholm does not want to give up. The result of this tug of war is that i conversations Little progress has been made between Sweden and Turkey, especially after various disputes, mainly due to the street protests of pro-Kurdish groups in the Swedish capital. Conversely, Finland’s approach to the above organizations would match Turkey’s sensibilities. Moreover, Helsinki seems to have taken steps in this direction.
For his part, the Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristerson He said Finland was more likely to join NATO before Sweden. “We welcome Finland’s accession. It would not be wrong to say that the accession talks will take place at a different time than with Sweden,” he said.
The other obstacle: Hungary
The parliaments of all 30 NATO member states must ratify any application to join the alliance. Turkey and Hungary they are the only ones who have not yet ratified the accession of Finland and Sweden. Budapest, on the other hand, does delay nor the vote on the ratification of the accession of the two Nordic countries to the Atlantic Alliance. The vote was scheduled for next week but the parliamentary session was cancelled.
According to press rumors, the Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjen, reportedly sent a letter to MPs proposing to postpone the vote on ratifying Sweden and Finland’s accession to NATO by a week or two. The letter would link the postponement to the continuation of negotiations between Budapest and Brussels over the release of the lockdown European funds Cohesion and prosperity destined for Hungary and frozen due to the long tug-of-war over the rule of law with the government of Hungary Viktor Orban. If confirmed, it would be the first time Hungarian authorities have admitted a connection between the two issues.